Crosby-on-Eden

Crosby-on-Eden is the combined name for two small villages, High Crosby and Low Crosby, within the civil parish of Stanwix Rural near Carlisle, in the Cumberland district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It was formerly a parish in its own right under the name Crosby upon Eden. In 1931, the parish had a population of 238. On 1 April 1934, the parish was abolished and merged with Stanwix Rural, and part also went to Wetheral. The villages are by the River Eden north-east of Carlisle, joined by a road that used to be the line of the Stanegate Roman road. It has been thought on spacing grounds that there might have been a small Roman fort in Crosby-on-Eden, as part of the so-called Stanegate frontier which preceded Hadrian's Wall, but if such a fort exists it has not yet been found. The Stanegate ran in a deep cutting still visible next to the road running west from High Crosby, and it has been suggested that part of the reason for the cutting was to produce stone for building work. The line of Hadrian's Wall passes a mile or so to the north, and the Hadrian's Wall Path follows the Stanegate through the villages. In Low Crosby is the Church of St John the Evangelist, a rebuilt church by R.H. Billings in the Gothic style. A grange was built here and named Crosby. High Crosby is a half mile east of Low Crosby, and located in the village is Crosby House, a former mansion that is now a hotel. The villages are bypassed by the A689 road which used to be numbered as part of the B6264 and follows the route of General Wade's Military Road. Crosby-on-Eden has a primary school, Crosby-on-Eden C. of E. School, built in 1844.